Now that ANZAC week – commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings where New Zealand and Australian troops were killed – is over, I feel better about sharing my somewhat unpopular beliefs about continually marking this occasion.

Suggesting ANZAC Day, let alone ANZAC Week, is glorifying war brings protest from almost everyone I speak to. Asking why it isn’t glorifying war brings, well, not a lot of sense from anyone.

But maybe they are just blocking out some of the telltale signs because it’s easier to ignore them than question them.

As of tomorrow, 7 July, I'll be employed for the first time in twelve years. In early May I applied for the 0.6FTE role of Communications Officer at the NZ AIDS Foundation, was offered, to my surprise, an interview in early June and, to my greater surprise, the job in mid-June.

My surprise was two-fold. Firstly, while I've had heaps of experience in communications I've had no formal training. Secondly, I'm fairly long in the tooth to be taking up an entry-level position. So while I felt confident to fulfil the role, I didn't think I'd fit the role profile.

I obviously did though. And that leads to another aspect of my surprise, which is strongly linked to trust. At the beginning of the year I decided to let myself be guided towards where I was needed. I thought it would come in the form of a new client, but it manifested in a completely unexpected way. Not only a completely different content area, but a different role (employment not consultant) and, actually, a whole different lifestyle (I'll be working at the Foundation's offices).

Last Friday two colleagues and I were booked on Air NZ 461 from Auckland to Wellington. My power wheelchair malfunctioned before we checked in and, because of the time taken to try and fix the problem, we arrived three minutes late to check in and, of course, the flight was closed.

As we explained to the ground staff member at the special assistance desk the reason why we were late and enquired whether an exception could be made, we were "told off" by the staff member for being late and, we felt, rudely told we would be transferred onto the next flight. This flight did not have an airbridge, adding further inconvenience as I had to be fork-lifted onto the plane from the tarmac.

They say old habits die hard and, when it comes to public holidays, old habits seem to be to glorify death and other rituals that are way out of date.

ANZAC Day is one of my pet-hate public holidays. When will we stop glorifying war? It should at least be a day of shame, but to continue etching war into the psyche of New Zealand and Australian culture by having a holiday seems pointless.

I've often shared my thoughts about Christmas. Easter is another cluster-fuqq* of paganism, Christianity and capitalism. Queen's Birthday isn't (and, by the way, will it change when she carks it?) and Labour Day, well, the forty hour week is fast becoming a thing of the industrial past.

"North Shore students have been banned from hugging during school hours because too many of them - mainly girls - were consistently arriving late to their classes," reported the NZ Herald this morning.

"Takapuna Normal Intermediate School deputy principal Sue Cattell said teachers last week suggested to students that they keep the hugs outside of the school day.

"'[The teachers' talk] was to remind them that this is like their place of work and they need to be back on time,'" said Cattell.

Leadership New Zealand is a not-for-profit trust set up to focus on developing and enhancing the quality of our future leaders. Leadership New Zealand identifies, nurtures and develops leaders, from whatever corner of society they emerge.

I am doing the programme this year.

Information sessions are being held in main centres for those who are interested in applying for the programme next year: